Trip to the National Museum of the US Air Force

[Messy1]

Did they open up the canopy for you?

 

[Matt308]

Wow that is perhaps the best pics of a -117 that I have ever seen. Wonderful job, thankyou. I still think the most impressive thing about that "airplane" is the flight control computer that allows that dodecamegaeffahedron to even fly.

And thanks for the F-22 response.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Aaron, it was a period of getting used to longer development times. The Canberra was retained in service (among other types) until the first Tornado GR1s came along (and much later i other roles), and were up-dated many times. It became a joke that MRCA meant what Karl described !
Oops! Crossing posts - nice shots of the Raptor Glenn.

Thank you Terry for the info.
And thank you again Glenn for the time and effort your putting into this sir!

 

[T Bolt]

Did they open up the canopy for you?

When going through my pictures from this visit last Feb I found that there were several aircraft that I didn't get all the shots of that I wanted so I supplemented them with some shots from my trip in Feb 2010. The ones with the canopy open are from then.


And thanks everyone for your responses, I'm glad everyone is enjoying my little tour.

 

[Messy1]

Thanks for all your hard work. I have enjoyed looking through your thread for weeks now.

 

[T Bolt]

It's been quite a while since I've updated this thread not because I've run out of pictures but because of the lack of free time I've had lately. Today I had some time on my hands and thought I'd at least try to finish up the aircraft in the "Modern" hangers.

Boeing B-1B Lancer

The B-1B is a much improved version of the B-1A which was canceled in the late 1970s It has variable sweep wings, caries a crew of 4, has a top speed of mach 1.2, and has 3 internal weapon bays that can carry up to 84 Mk-82 general purpose bombs. The B-1B entered service in 1985 and first flew a combat mission in Iraq in 1998.

 

[T Bolt]

During flight testing of the Northrop XB-35 and XB-49 flying wings back in the late 1940s it was found that their radar signature was much smaller than it should have been for planes of their size. In the 1980s when development of "stealth" aircraft was underway Northrop used the flying wing concept along with composite materials and special coatings to create the B-2 stealth bomber. It even has the same 172 foot wingspan as the B-35s and B-49s. The B-2 has a crew of 2 and fly's at high sub-sonic speeds.

The B-2 on display is one of two built without engines to be used for structural testing. The wing withstood 161% of the max design loading before breaking. In one of my pictures you can see the crude gusset plate that was used to repair the wing with so it could be displayed.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

I have been absent from this thread to long. Sorry. The shots are great Glenn. The B-1 in my opinion is the second sexiest aircraft ever built.

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots Glenn!

 

[Airframes]

Great pics Glenn.

 

[Crimea_River]

Love the B-1. One of the most beautiful looking aircraft ever made in my opinion.

 

[Wayne Little]

Great pics Glenn, B-1 certainly has something special about it...

 

[wheelsup_cavu]

Cool pictures.


Wheels

 

[T Bolt]

I was looking through this thread for something the other day and realized I had never finished it, so I dug out the original picture files and will be continuing it at time permits.

I'll start off with the planes in the restoration hanger I saw during the behind the scenes tour I took. This id actually two connecting hangers on Wright-Patterson air Force Base, one used for restoration and the other used for storage of aircraft awaiting restoration. Advanced reservations are needed to take the tour.

First off is the B-17F "Memphis Belle"

This is not the Memphis Belle seen at air shows but the original aircraft and crew were the first in the 8th Air Force to complete 25 missions in May of 1943. The crews 25th mission was actually the 24th for the aircraft as thaw has flown some in other aircrafts so the 25th mission for the Memphis Belle was flown with another crew.

The B-17 spent decades on display outdoors in Memphis, Tenn., until 2005 when it was transported to the museum where it is now undergoing restoration.

 

[T Bolt]

Memphis Belle part 2

 

[T Bolt]

Memphis Belle part 3

 

[Robert Porter]

Nice! Glad to see her being cared for again!

 

[T Bolt]

Another B-17, The oldest Flying Fortress in existence, B-17D "The Swoose".

It had a long and sordid career,originally named "Ole Betsy" it flew across the Pacific to the Philippines by way of Hawaii where it flew in the first combat mission against the Japanese in the hours after the Pearl Harbor attack and continued flying combat missions in the following weeks, first from the Philippines and then from Java.

In January 1942 the aircraft received extensive damage from a fighter attack and the entire tail section was replaced from one from another B-17D and converted to an armed transport. It was re-named "The Swoose" and used by Lt. Gen. George Brett e in the southwest Pacific, and kept it with him even after he returned to the states until he retired in 1945.

The Swoose was given toThe Smithsonian Institution in the late 1940's and was stored until the Air Force Museum acquired it in 2008. Restoration was started on it but it currently on hold while other projects are completed.

 

[T Bolt]

The Swoose 2

 

[T Bolt]

MiG-25 Foxbat

The sign says it all